Friars' matchup nightmares spooking rest of Big East | VIDEO

PROVIDENCE — After what seems like every game these days, Providence basketball coach Ed Cooley can’t help but praise the versatility in his flexible lineup.

Coaches never know just how recruits or preseason plans are going to pan out but this team versatility comes by design. Entering Saturday’s sold-out game against DePaul at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, the Friars are rolling at the right time of the season. They’ve won six of their last eight Big East games and at 7-4 are pointed toward what would be a fifth straight NCAA Tournament berth.

If that bid does come to fruition, it will be due to the Friars’ versatility. Cooley and his staff covet multi-dimensional players with good size and length. He’s won games this season with the 5-11 Kyron Cartwright surrounded by a series of guard/forwards who “can shoot, pass, catch and dribble,” and hopefully play enough defense to scratch out wins.

The leading forces in this department of late have been sophomore Alpha Diallo and redshirt junior Isaiah Jackson. Both players fit Cooley’s description perfectly. Diallo, 6-7, is the team’s best rebounder and finisher around the rim. Jackson (6-6) has shaken off a rocky start to the season and is a true matchup nightmare for opponents.

“I think Isaiah’s versatility, Alpha’s versatility really, really help us,” said Cooley. “They can play one through five [positions]. The way the game is being played today there is a lot of position-less basketball, so you just try to put the guys with the most skill, the toughest, system-detailed group on the floor.”

Diallo is clearly a rising star in the Big East. The sophomore from New York came to PC after being heavily recruited and is showing why. Entering this weekend’s games, he’s one of only three Big East players averaging at least 12 points (12.7), six rebounds (6.4) and two assists (2.0). The other two are All-American candidates, and certain first team All-Big East picks, Angel Delgado of Seton Hall and Kelan Martin from Butler.

“Alpha’s been an animal, a double-double machine,” Cooley said. “His versatility is an advantage for us in every game.”

Diallo has posted five double-doubles this season but three have come in the last five games. Opposing coaches haven’t figured out if it’s best to check him with a smaller, quicker defender or a taller, slower one. He’s come up big in wins and was also the only Friar who really showed up (25 points, 10 rebounds) in a loss to Seton Hall.

Jackson is currently playing the best basketball of his career and it wasn’t hard to figure out why earlier this week. As many of his teammates casually tossed up shots before practice, Jackson was working himself into a complete, dripping sweat in a workout with assistant coach Jeff Battle. Jackson says those workouts stretched back to last summer and are now paying off as he’s averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in just 21 minutes a game in Big East action.

“I’ve reached the point in the year where I’m just in a groove and my teammates are finding me in my spots and I’m taking advantage of what the defense is giving me,” Jackson said. “I know I’m a versatile player and Coach puts me in position to take advantage of that at the two, three or four [positions].”

The Friars will need more of the same from both players to win in the Big East. The claim that the conference is as strong as any from top to bottom now owns plenty of merit after St. John's posted upsets of both Duke and Villanova last week. DePaul lost to Creighton in the last minute and is far from a push-over. PC needed to come from behind to beat the Blue Demons only a few weeks ago in Chicago.

“That is really good evidence,” Cooley said. “You see a really confident St. John’s team go on the road and beat arguably the number-one team in the country. You have a DePaul team that’s played really well, was in a one-possession game against Creighton. And those are teams not considered at the top of our league. You look at the parity in the league, man it is really hard. That’s not just the Big East. That’s all across college basketball."

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